Dean, with Davis, uses recall to blast Bush in California

September 07, 2003|By Jeff Zeleny, Tribune national correspondent.

LOS ANGELES — Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean said Saturday that he holds President Bush personally responsible for engineering the drive to remove California Gov. Gray Davis from office, saying he believes the effort is another example of what Dean called the Republican Party's attempt to hijack democracy in America.

"The right wing of the Republican Party is deliberately undermining the Democratic underpinnings of this country," said Dean, the former Vermont governor who is the first presidential candidate to directly enter the fray of the California recall debate. "I believe they do not care what Americans think and they do not accept the legitimacy of our elections."

He added, "That's what the 2004 presidential election is going to be about: democracy and our ideals."

Many Democrats had been slow in coming to the defense of a governor whose popularity has plummeted in the wake of a giant budget deficit, an energy crisis and other dilemmas. But in recent days, leading Democrats here and in Washington have begun to cast the recall attempt as another link in what they contend is a conspiracy that started with the controversial end to the 2000 presidential election in Florida.

Bush keeping at arm's length

Standing beside Davis, the beleaguered governor facing a recall vote Oct. 7, Dean said he is "absolutely" convinced that Bush and his chief political adviser, Karl Rove, "have their hand" in the attempt to remove the governor less than one year after winning re-election.

The president has distanced himself from the recall effort and all its trappings, after actor Arnold Schwarzenegger and 134 other candidates qualified for the ballot. The White House has not taken a public role in the recall effort and has repeatedly disputed assertions that it was involved in trying to put a Republican in the governor's office of the most populous state.

"It's inappropriate, irresponsible and it's absurd," said Christine Iverson, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, responding to Dean's comments.

In an interview after the news conference, Dean conceded that his assertions against the White House were "based on suspicion." But the California recall, he said, follows a pattern of Republican efforts that includes controversial attempts to redistrict congressional seats in Colorado and Texas.

"Can I prove that? No," Dean said. "But I strongly believe it and I believe most Americans will believe it."

`This isn't about Gray Davis'

Until Saturday, when Dean appeared with Davis at a news conference, the nine Democratic presidential candidates have stepped gingerly around the contentious recall debate. A strong majority of California voters disapprove of how Davis has handled the state's budget, and the presidential hopefuls have been reluctant to take sides in a dispute that also has divided the state's Democrats.

Even Dean's appearance, though, included a caveat.

He declined to unequivocally declare his support for the governor, insisting "this isn't about Gray Davis." Instead, he attacked the process of the recall election and blamed Republicans for trying to overturn Davis' election last fall.

"My trademark is, I say what I think, for better or worse," said Dean, who took a break from a weekend campaign trip to California to appear with Davis. "If there's political risk, so be it."

Like most Democrats here, Dean opposes the recall. On the second ballot question of who might replace Davis, Dean said he supports Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante.

While the Democratic presidential candidates signed a letter last month stating their opposition to the recall, none of the contenders has appeared publicly with Davis, even though several have spent time in the state raising money for their own campaigns. This month, former President Bill Clinton is scheduled to campaign with Davis, a move that helps clear the way for the Democratic candidates to help.

Privately, aides to some other Democratic campaigns said if they dispatch their candidates to California, it would only be partially because of Davis. As Dean illustrated here, the anti-recall campaign offers a new line of attack against Bush.

"I don't see how you can complain about Gray Davis' management of the economy," Dean said, "when the fact is that the economy is in the tank because of the president of the United States."